I have had a lot of change lately, both welcomed and un-welcomed. And with change there is often times a lot of growth that can occur if you allow it. But, what many people don't understand is that growth and change doesn't always mean better. It also doesn't always mean that you won't loose something in the process.
I have recently had a big, not-so-welcomed change in my life, among others. My husband and I had to move from our wonderful house that we were renting and planned to buy off our landlords. However, due to taxes and other things, our landlords had to sell a whole lot sooner than we were prepared to buy the house. So, we had to find a new place to call home. A difficult task when all rent prices have skyrocketed in our area, and even more difficult when you really, really don't want to move from your perfect house. We were fortunate to find an apartment that worked for many of our needs in our price range.
While this apartment, that we were, again, very fortunate to find, is a blessing, it is a HUGE adjustment. You see, we were in a perfect location, close to both of our jobs. The house had just about everything we wanted in a place, complete with lots of space for my husband and his car projects, multiple rooms and space for all that we wanted to have, as well as space to host family gatherings (you know, pre-pandemic), a nice back yard with a pool and all the room our pup needed to roam and be happy... and the list goes on. The apartment is about half the size, with a fraction of the back yard, on a busy street, and now twice as far for us to get to work. We had to downsize. A lot. We now have an inside dog, so that's an adjustment for all three of us. And we had to cram three rooms of stuff into one small room. Oh, and I had to build an actual, functioning, Zoom-worthy office in that, because I am working from home now.
So, anyway, what am I getting at? Well, while this packing, downsizing, and moving has been happening (over my ENTIRE winter break...) I had to prepare my plants for the move. One of those plants is a bamboo plant (one of the few plants I have not killed🙈). Bamboo plants grow, obviously. And by growing they get these little grooves or knuckles or whatever they are called. The way that a bamboo plant gets these notches and grows, they grow leaves, and then the leaves die. They get crispy. They crumble off. Which allows for more growth and more new leaves.
It occurred to me, as I helped to get the dead leaves off my bamboo plant, that this is like a lot of changes that have to occur. Often, we (yes, myself included) think that growth and change means that we get better things and don't loose anything in the process. But, that is most definitely not the case! If we hold on to those dead leaves, we may never grow beautifully tall and strong. We may fall over from the weight. We may even wither up trying to keep putting nutrients into those already dead leaves. Instead, if we look at that change, and look at those dying leaves and, hear me out here, let them die, we will likely succeed. We will be able to look back and mourn those dead leaves, those parts of us that we had to let go of, then we will be able to grow and change gorgeously.
Thus, I challenge you. Call it a New Year's challenge. As those changes happen, because we all know they will, allow them to happen. Allow yourself to let go of what is dying and see what new ways you can grow. Embrace change and growth, just like my little bamboo plant in my little apartment.
P.S. My bamboo plant needs to be transplanted to a new pot, because he is getting too top heavy now for his original pot. Let's all hope he embraces the change and survives the migration.
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